IMF

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In the June issue of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) publication Finance and Development, Jonathan D. Ostry, Deputy Head of the IMF Research Department, and two co-authors examine two main tenets of the neoliberal doctrine, and find them wanting.

Don't

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For the last five years, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has consistently been revising downwards its forecasts of world economic growth.

In a slowing global economy, eyes turned to Shanghai where the Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers and central bankers sat down February 26-27 to assess the worsening outlook, and agree on what to do together.

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In its recent report released in early June, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made some startling policy announcements: given the general depressed economic condition in the world economy, now is not the time to pay down the national debt if that implies sacrificing economic growth. This advice was aimed notably at Canada: worry about deficits later.

This is quite a remarkable statement from an institution that is better known for defending austerity and so-called neoliberal policies of free markets. Indeed, in the 1990s, the IMF tied financial aid for many developing countries to the adoption of a series of specific neoliberal policies that imposed harsh reforms on them that only worsened their already fragile economies.

On January 26, a political earthquake brought the left-wing Syriza party to power in Greece with a sweeping mandate to end the six-year nightmare of economic austerity imposed by the European establishment.

Since the 2008 global financial crisis, the so-called German-backed troika -- the European Central Bank, the European Commission and International Monetary Fund -- forced Greece into accepting $275 billion in bailout loans conditional on harsh restructuring measures.